© The Epoch TimesSpygate Crossfire
To set the correct context to understand the importance of what Ratcliffe is outlining here, it is important to remember that inside the executive branch of government, heading into the 2016 election, the two distinct camps were operating based on their perspective of their individual best interests. Two distinct camps - Team Clinton and Team Obama.
Watch the interview while paying close attention to the dates and personalities that Ratcliffe is outlining. I will expand on the background to explain how these issues surface in the investigation of John Durham; where he will go and where he will not go. WATCH:
To understand the context Ratcliffe is explaining, it is important to go back to the relationship that existed between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It is from this relationship when things start to fall into place, as the Clinton camp was operating in the year of the 2016 election. Grab a beverage, this is going to get weedy...
Deep political followers will remember well the 2008 Democrat primary between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. It was a brutal battle within the Democrat Party between radical ideologues (Team Obama) and the entrenched establishment old guard (Team Clinton).
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton hated each other.
Team Obama were radical progressives with idealistic objectives to fundamentally change America. Team Clinton were power hungry politicians from a traditional Democrat perspective. The Clintons focused on power for the benefit of their own affluence and gain. In essence, team Obama were true believers (communists). Team Clinton were following their traditional path looking for power and wealth (crony capitalists). This underpinned the primary battle.
As an outcome of the battle, Team Obama won, but the PUMAS were born (ie. Party Unity My Ass).
To heal the DNC scars, although they still hated each other, Obama essentially gave Clinton the Secretary of State job so she could get what was always important, money. Giving her the SoS position allowed Hillary to keep making money for the Clinton Global Initiative, an international money laundering operation selling influence. Hillary accepted and did exactly that, selling influence to gain affluence throughout her tenure as Secretary.
The Clinton-Obama détente also came with an agreement. When Obama was done, he wouldn't do anything to interfere with Hillary's quest for the White House. But keep in mind, the underlying difference between Hillary and Obama (graft/power -vs- true believer/fundamental change) was always present in the two camps as they worked deep within the institutions of government.
© UnknownHillary Clinton
Few people have paid attention to the importance of that personnel move.
In the lead up to what would be the 2016 election, John Podesta was inside the White House as an advisor of sorts. However, John Podesta was not advising Team Obama. Instead Podesta's job was to relay information to Clinton about what was going on inside the White House in 2014 and 2015.
Podesta was there because Clinton and Obama did not trust each other. Podesta, Clinton's personal fixer, was in the White House to keep an eye on things. I have often reminded people of that dynamic with pictures of Podesta sitting in the wings:
© UnknownJohn Podesta (circled) in Obama briefing
Team Clinton included the continued majority of administration officials within the State Department. Inside the other institutions of the executive there were also Clinton team members, as well as officials looking to curry favor and advancement for the Clinton administration if she were to win the 2016 election.
In addition to almost all the State Dept officials, team Clinton included: Leon Panetta, Mike Morrell, Deputy AG Sally Yates, Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, and a host of other key workers/opportunists within the institutions like: Lisa Page, Peter Strzok, David Laufman and the entire DOJ/FBI crew who worked on the Clinton email and Huma Abedin laptop investigation specifically motivated to clear Clinton including FBI Director James Comey.
Team Obama always consisted of entrenched loyalists to the bigger cause, and Valerie Jarret ensured everyone stayed focused on the Obama team priority of fundamental and structural change. Obama loyalists included: Lisa Monaco, Susan Rice, Samantha Powers, Kathryn Reummler, John Brennan, Denis McDonough, Jack Lew, Eric Holder/Loretta Lynch etc.
Team Clinton was using the machinery inside government to position Hillary for victory in November 2016.
When it became clear that Donald Trump was going to be her opponent (after Super Tuesday, March 2016), the political weaponization of that machinery now had a target - Donald J. Trump.
Clinton hired Fusion GPS in April 2016 for the purpose of targeting her opponent Donald Trump. The Clinton State Dept officials, Clinton Intelligence officials, Clinton DOJ and FBI officials and Clinton-allied federal contractors now had a target. The "I'm With Her" media were awaiting information to receive and deploy against her opponent. All of the various Clinton aligned internal and external operatives in government began executing the larger plan to assist, protect and advance Hillary.
♦ However, there was a problem - Through the summer of 2016, the Clinton activity was too intense and too transparent as conducted by participants inside government. The aggressive use of the intelligence community was creating a risk. After all, many of the operations being run to benefit Hillary politically were being done under the umbrella of the Obama administration.
If Hillary Clinton's crew went too far... which they did.... they could be putting President Obama in a position of compromise. That was a problem for Team Obama loyalists and the people who had worked too hard on the fundamental change.
Team Obama did not want to see their successful accomplishments and ongoing objectives put into a spotlight of illegality because Team Clinton was using the machinery of Obama's administration to target her political opposition. THAT background was the topic of the August 2016 meeting Ratcliffe is drawing attention to today.
CIA Director John Brennan meeting with President Obama in the Oval Office in August 2016 is informing him of the visible nature of the weaponization of government that Team Clinton was executing.
Team Obama then gave Team Clinton a serious slap across the knuckles, telling them they better come up with a legal justification for their use of the intelligence community against Donald Trump.... THAT is AUGUST 2016... THAT is why the Clinton crew inside the DOJ and FBI operation needed to come up with a legal justification for their prior intelligence deployments.... THAT is why the DOJ/FBI needed the FISA warrant.
Following the warning provided by Team Obama, the Clinton team then put together a plan to use Carter Page as a vessel for a Title-1 search warrant that could be used as justification for their pre-existing use of the intelligence apparatus against Donald Trump. The FISA application was put together to justify the Clinton operations; however, the FISA application was weak-sauce.... thus, they needed the Christopher Steele dossier to take the place of a valid 'woods file' in the application.
Carter Page was selected because he was a known commodity to both the CIA and the FBI going back to his collaborative work in the Evgeny Buryakov case, and Carter Page was close enough tangentially to the Trump campaign to be valuable.
The 'Trump is a Russian asset' narrative was already in place. Team Clinton had been grooming this false narrative for several months. Carter Page was a part of that narrative, and the DOJ/FBI using Page to get a Title-1 surveillance warrant eliminated the legal issues Team Obama was warning about.
The rest, as they say, is history.
The totality of all of that unethical and illegal activity is why defenses had to be activated in the aftermath of the 2016 election. Getting Robert Mueller and Andrew Weissmann into place was part of that urgently needed coverup and defense strategy. Andrew Weissmann and crew took control of the DOJ and targeted the White House to stop Donald Trump from exposing all the 2016 corrupt activity.
♦ How does this play out with John Durham? The answer to that question is found by going back into the original camp positions and then reminding yourself all the current Biden administration officials are also Obama loyalists.
No one from within the Obama loyalist camp will be touched by Durham. However, those who were in the Clinton camp can be targets of Durham depending on how close they are to the proximity of the dividing line between Clinton and Obama. Those who are close to the Obama line are more safe than those who are distant from it. That's what we are seeing with John Durham.
Durham cannot cross the line that protects Team Obama, because he knows the barbed wire Bill Barr put down. Former AG Bill Barr gave Team Obama (which includes Democrat politicians in positions of power) a defensive weapon that sits in a drawer in case Durham exceeds his politically permitted mandate.
Under DOJ regulations [28 cfr 600], a special counsel must come from "outside government"; John Durham was not outside government and did not resign his position prior to the appointment. Bill Barr gave the appearance of a special counsel appointment while knowing the legal validity could easily collapse upon challenge (if the Biden administration choose):
§ 600.3 Qualifications of the Special Counsel.Obviously Bill Barr is a smart man. He would know the regulations he cited would require the special counsel to come from "outside the U.S. government," thus such a simple flaw cannot be looked upon as anything except purposeful. Should John Durham get too close to the Obama line of protection, the political system will defend itself by highlighting that John Durham has no legal authority. That's how DC protects itself.
"(a) An individual named as Special Counsel shall be a lawyer with a reputation for integrity and impartial decisionmaking, and with appropriate experience to ensure both that the investigation will be conducted ably, expeditiously and thoroughly, and that investigative and prosecutorial decisions will be supported by an informed understanding of the criminal law and Department of Justice policies. The Special Counsel shall be selected from outside the United States Government. Special Counsels shall agree that their responsibilities as Special Counsel shall take first precedence in their professional lives, and that it may be necessary to devote their full time to the investigation, depending on its complexity and the stage of the investigation." (link)
Bill Barr was the Bondo application, John Durham is the spray paint.
The final accountability you are being provided by the Durham probe is your ability to snark and yell "I toldyaso" at the leftists and political media. That is why John Durham is providing "speaking indictments".
Durham is purposefully giving all of the right-wing media, and the deep-weed followers of Spygate, fuel for their righteous indignation -an opportunity to yell 'TOLDYASO'- in the indictments of those who are a long way from the Obama dividing line. That's where it stops.
The "Durham Report" (everyone was talking about) will likely be a final assembly of Durham indictments put together in a book format.
The allowable targets for Durham can be defined as those Clinton team members who were furthest away from Team Obama.
© Fox NewsDurham Indictments
Comment: Check out the video with John Ratcliffe.